When we last left off, the US Border Patrol was flashing lights and cruising up next to us. The officers were on deck and checking us out. They had a small speed boat (probably smaller than ours). Stephanie quickly came on deck with a plastic bag containing all of the paperwork to show that we’d done things properly. Without looking at the documents, the officers gave our group the once over look, eyed the packet in Stephanie’s hand and waved us on – “go on! Have a nice evening” they said. We were happy to move on, but seriously disappointed that we were now way behind the huge ferry from Tortola. When we pulled into the dock at Cruz Bay, the problem was obvious….the line snaked around and around…..people in business suits. It was rush hour and we’d hit the thick of it. Darn. We got off of the boat and went to stand in the back of the line. I am not sure how long it took….but it was a loooooong time. After being checked back into the US by a nice, female customs agent who smiled at us and was gentle and kindly, we got back onto Born to Rhumb and headed back to the old national park dock on STT. We tipped our host ($20 per head) and headed to our villa. Everyone was dead tired. I think I fell asleep by 8pm, without any dinner. Everyone else had leftover Sopchoppy’s pizza. All in all, a fabulous, full day.

The next day, we decided to pack up and head to Magens Bay. I know people say it is too crowded, but we go to the left side and find it fairly quiet and peaceful. Also, with kids, we’re not really into that deserted beach feel. Kids like to play with other kids and they keep each other busy doing that. Plus, we like to people watch, listen to music from the various beach parties going on, smell the aroma from the local dishes that people are cooking in big pots over open fires, greet the locals, etc. For us, two people who spend significant portions of their childhoods immersed in Caribbean culture, we’re not looking to escape from it. We want to experience it when we’re there. Funny that Geoff can turn his Jamaican accent off and on without missing a beat. When we were down in the VI, his accent came out in rare form….so thick that I had to sometimes concentrate to understand. But, the islanders kept asking him where he was from and he even got some secret handshakes. I would ask..”what did that handshake mean?”..and he’d say “I have no idea, I just followed along with it”…haha. Someone told us that islanders can tell which island you are from by your accent.

So, we found a good spot under a seagrape tree. The girls didn’t want to go all the way to the left side. They wanted to be amongst the people, so we traveled far enough to get away from the crowd by the concession stand, but not too close to the secluded area.

Left side of Magens....middle of the afternoon on a Saturday. Lots of parties going on at the pavillions behind the beach.Good music!!

Bury us!! Bury us!!

Geoff is a good sport...

It was just a lazy day at the beach…..we swam, floated, dreamed, greeted locals who were strolling or out having a nice Saturday at the beach. But the afternoon, the calypso music started to thump and the aromas from the pots were drifting over to us. Eventually, we walked all the way to the far right side and out along the rocks to a little secluded patch of sand where we spent some time with the girls snorkeling and trying to figure out what the fish is that pokes his head out of the sand. He’s white. We had fun watching him and being ticked on the feet and legs by the other fish that insisted on swimming around us and liked it when we kicked up the sand. When we stopped and were still, they’d come over and tickle our legs, like they were nudging us to kick up more sand for them. We had a good time here.

It started to get late, so we made our way back to our spot on Magens Bay and we eventually packed up to go back to the villa. Hmmmm….I can’t recall what we had for dinner that night. I think this was the night we used our Rotary coupons and went to the Grapevine Grill at Sapphire, which is where Azure used to be. The older kids asked us to take them to pick up Texas BBQ from the pit in Red Hook in the Duffy’s parking lot. Geoff and I would have been happy with that!!! But, the girls wanted more swimming. They’d asked to go to Indigo, but I didn’t want to drive back to the Northside, so we decided to go to Grapevine since they have a pool that dining patrons can use.

Turned out that the girls loved this pool (they were the only ones in it) and the food at Grapevine was really good! One of the owners took care of us and he was really attentive and nice. He even set us up with a special table out on the patio so we could be next to the pool to watch the kids swim. I recommend this place. Take bug spray if you plan to sit outside. We had ours, luckily.

After dinner, it was back to the villa for showers and the kids went to bed early. I think Geoff fell asleep while I sat in the LR and painted my toenails. Then he came out around midnight and we noticed the full moon through the sliders. We turned out all of the lights and the moon was so bright that the entire villa was lit with moonlight. “Let’s go outside” I said. So we went out onto the gallery and looked at the moon for a while. At some point, Geoff went in and got his camera and we took some sweet photos together - some we can show, some we cannot ;).

Yes, I did have clothes on....a sarong that is just out of view. It is visible in another photo, so if anyone challenges me, I'll prove it - haha!! It was about 2am when we took this out on the gallery.